I would just like to thank you and DSA for all the time and effort put into organizing the jerseys that went to Ecuador with the Crofton House School service trip.

The main purpose of the service trip was to help the less privledged kids in Ecuador and the donation of jerseys and soccer balls helped so much and the children really appreciated them. We worked at the Comedor San Jose Obrero in a poorer area of town where we painted the classrooms and taught the children English. The kids were between the ages of 5 and 12 and we later learned that they had been hand selected by the nuns, one from each of the poorest families from the poorest part of the city. On the last day we visited where the children lived, while we weren't able to take pictures, it was a very moving experience. The children lived with their families in 1/2 finished houses with no plumbing and no garbage removal system. Many of the houses were positioned on a steep side of a gorge and when it rains there are massive mudslides. Many of the children walk 2 hours to get to the Centre where they are served 2 meals a day as they only stay for a 1/2 day so that they can go to school for the other half of the day.

It was amazing to see the kids' faces light up when they received the soccer jerseys from Dunbar soccer. We tried to organize a soccer game, but on our chosen day it was raining too hard. We did hand out balls to each of the teachers and I managed to play a little pick up with the kids during the week.

Enclosed are some pictures of the centre and the kids.

Here is the link to the blog that we kept during the trip which contains more pictures. http://ecuador.edublogs.org/

Once again, thank you so much for all your time and effort; I know that both the girls who went on the trip and the kids appreciated it.

Alecia Kallos